Wanted or Not?
by outerelf
Summary: Red Alert has always believed he killed his creators, but the veil of untruth is about to be pulled aside leaving him with a decision. oneshot


"He has a WHAT?" Came two shrieks. The other two holding the tiny sparkling winced.

"A glitch." Came back the patient reply.

Two pairs of stunned and disapproving optics surveyed the parents who cradled the sparkling gently. "Sinker, Bluerunner, surely you can't mean that. You worked hard to get a perfectly glitch-free body, and-"

"Ma, Dad…" Bluerunner said softly, holding the tiny sparkling closer to her. "He does have a glitch. It surprised us as well, but we're going to make sure that he gets the best help possible-"

"NO! You can't actually mean to keep that _thing_!" The Grandmother shrieked pointing at the sparkling.

As if recognizing what was going around it, the small sparkling clicked softly, one tiny hand reaching out for its grandparents. With disdainful looks, they both pulled away. The sparklings hand was still outstretched, as if pleading with them. Bluerunner looked at Sinker worriedly.

Quietly her husband picked up the small sparkling and left the room. Bluerunner looked at her creators. "Mother, Father, I know I never lived up to your dreams… but _please_. The doctors say that I can never have another sparkling again. I nearly died giving birth to this one, and their sure I won't survive through another."

"You can adopt! But that _glitch_ needs to go!" The mother proclaimed. The father nodded, and Bluerunners optics filled with tears.

_I should've known they would've refused. But still, I can't let them convince me. I gave birth to this child, and I'm going to keep him._ "No! I am going to raise him Starwarper!"

Starwarper fell silent, seeing Bluerunners optics fill with determination. Just as she had privately feared, refusing just made her creation more determined to keep a hold of the glitch. Her mouth frowned for a few moments, until at last she slowly nodded. "Very well."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Starwarper stared down at the small youngling that tossed and turned in the bed that Sinker had so carefully built for it. "Red Alert. They named it. I can't believe they named it. Oh well, it'll disappear after tonight. After all of this time, I can finally make it disappear."

Silently she picked up the youngling. It twitched slightly, but recognized what it thought was safe arms, and fell back into a deep recharge. Dispassionately she stared down at it, and at last she turned and vanished into the night.

Starwarper moved briskly to a small orphanage on the very worse part of the city. It was old, run down, and understaffed. Perfect for what she needed. Silently she placed the youngling down in front of the door, and placed a note in front of the door.

Then, as if she was a piece of blackness itself, she turned to vanish when there was a soft click behind her. She turned, and the last thing she saw was two hands reaching out for her. She screamed and ran.

--

Red Alert toyed with the energon cube, optics melancholy. Inferno didn't notice, as he laughed and joked with the other members of the Ark. _Why did I come? I know I felt odd about today-_

Red Alert sighed softly into his energon cube, optics slowly traveling around the room. The Ark had landed near a neutral city, that was actually Autobot friendly. Of course… _It's my home city. That's why I agreed to come with Inferno, was because I wanted to be able to slip off. Just need to give Inferno another couple of breems, and then I'll be able to wander at will-_

Red Alert took another sip of his cube, optics tracking the fire truck around the room, and silently stood in the corner he had taken over. There was a slight bubble around him, like always.

Silently he began drifting for the door, unnoticed by the wildly partying mechs. Half were Autobots, and the other half were those mechs from the city who would be off. For a moment he froze, spotting mechs whom he could recognize, but he took a deep breath, reminding himself that the mechs wouldn't be able to recognize him.

He had changed too much over the vorns of fighting. He was no longer the mech who shivered at the slightest sound. He could now control his glitch much better. Red Alert forced his feet into moving out the door.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Cold, fresh air slapped against his face, and he hummed to himself softly as he relaxed against the wall of the building. It was much quieter, much more peaceful outside in the darkness. And less of a chance of being spotted and recognized as the glitching child who- Red Alert cut off the thought right where it was.

His optics scanned the area, and he tensed as a femme came stumbling outside into the cool air. She was obviously furious, and another mech stood behind her, wringing his hands. Red Alert watched as she stormed to a small, out of sight niche before stopping to growl and grumble to herself. A night wind brought her words to him. "Stupid Sinker. He promised me never to mention that. He _promised_."

She rubbed at her optics, and Red Alert tried creeping away. She spotted him instantly. "Who are you?"

"Ah, just an Autobot ma'm." Red Alert said hastily.

The femme glared at him suspiciously for a moment, before slowly walking over to him. For some odd reason, Red Alert could feel himself relaxing in her presence, something that only Inferno had done before. "And Autobot, hmm? Have you been to lots of planets?"

Red Alert surprised himself with answering, "Yes. Many. A lot of times just in time to save the natives."

"So, you haven't met any aliens that are stronger then you?"

"What? No, not so far as has been recorded." Red Alert said softly, but his optics rested on the femme thoughtfully. "Why aren't you in the party right now?"

"I could ask the same thing of you, but if you must know, it's because my idiot of a husband had to bring _him_ up again. It's been so many vorns since then, and I now understand I won't find him, but it still hurts."

"Oh? What are you talking about?"

The femme simply shook her head, refusing to answer. Then, she hesitated, thinking better of it. "My sparkling dissapeared."

Red Alert nodded sympathetically. There wasn't much that he could do anyways. She was obviously one of those richer mechs, one who could afford to spend money searching for a lost sparkling, though why the sparkling would run away, Red Alert had no idea. Especially for a creator that obviously cared so much- _Wait, how do I know that?_ Red Alert wondered suddenly.

_How do I know she would take care of her sparkling nicely? I don't understand it._ Red Alert regarded the femme before him with growing confusion. "Ma'm, I didn't get your name. May I have it?"

"Oh, my name?" The femme looked at Red Alert, and Red Alert was glad that the darkness hid his face. "It's Bluerunner. I am bonded just for your information."

"That's perfectly fine-" Red Alert hastened to reassure her. Somehow the thought of her interfacing with him seemed sacrilegious and incredibly silly. "I was just wondering who I was talking to."

"Oh, and what's your name?" Bluerunner prodded.

Red Alert was about to say something, when he visibly stopped, and said softly, "It's Red Alert."

The femme went completely stiff, and Red Alerts spark sank- "RED ALERT!" She cried, and wrapped him up in a hug just as a slightly concerned Inferno, and a long-suffering Jazz exited the door to see her hug him.

Infernos jaw dropped from sheer surprise, as Jazzs optics under the visor grew wide. "What the _slag_ is going on here?" Jazz whispered, pulling Inferno back. "I didn't think he had anyone he was in love-"

Jazz broke off, realizing that might be the wrong word to say around Inferno, but Infernos optics was fixed on Red Alert and the femme. "Wait, what?" Red Alerts voice was surprised and stunned, and he attempted to pull himself back from the femme. "I hardly know you! Aren't you bonded anyways?"

"Yes, I was, and we had a sparkling, who disappeared. _You_ Red Alert, that's the name we gave our sparkling."

Red Alert froze, optics growing wide as he considered the implications of what she had said, and suddenly he backed up, shaking his head. "That's… that's impossible! I was left in front of an orphanage, when I was just a youngling. I was abandoned because I _glitched_ so badly that I killed my creators!"

One hand rose to Infernos mouth, and Infernos horrified gaze fell to Jazzs own stunned gaze. "You can't be my creator!" Red Alert said, frustrated, and before the femme could say anything, he sped off into the night.

For long, long moments silence strangulated every single mech that had heard. And then Bluerunner sobbed softly.

Bluerunner took off after her creation, as Inferno slowly sank into a sitting position, CPU reeling from the amount of data that had been poured into it in an amazingly short amount of time. "Primus, Red… what is going on here?" Inferno wailed softly, head burying into his hands.

Jazz looked down at Inferno, and then nudged the mech. "C'mon Inferno."

Behind them they could hear the party breaking up. "We… we have to tell Prime and Prowl." Jazz said softly. "Red Alert won't be coming to the Ark any time soon…"

0o0o0o0o0

Bluerunners optics scanned the area, desperately searching for her creation. _I need to speak with him. Please Primus! Just allow me ten breems of uninterrupted talk with him, and I swear I will go happily! Please!_

As if answering her private prayers, and once again disregarding Red Alerts, Bluerunner saw Red Alert standing in a pool of light. He was frozen stiff as a rabbit horns solid blue, optics staring off into the darkness ahead of him. Slowly he took a step back from what was before him, and Bluerunner shouted, "Red Alert!"

Red Alert shook himself, realizing that he had glitched. There was nothing around him, but he still hesitated, and Bluerunner took that time to grab him by the hand. "Wait, Red Alert."

Red Alert stared at the delicate hand that gripped his wrist, and looked up, optics unreadable. He knew that with a single twist he could break free, and go on believing what he had always believed. "What do you mean you killed your creators?"

"It… was a letter. Left with me. I glitched as a youngling, and in the resulting chaos… I killed my creators. They cornered me and… I can't remember the rest. What does it matter?"

"Red Alert, I'm telling you, I'm your creator. Don't you recognize me at all?" Bluerunner cried, optics pleading with Red Alert.

Red Alert shuffled back half a step as silently he shook his head, optics lost in thought. "No… I don't remember you."

Bluerunners shoulders sagged as she stared, spark-struck at the trembling security director. "How… How can you not remember me?" She mused out loud. "Your memory files should've been developed enough to remember something."

Red Alert sighed, and dug deep into the very back of his memory files, attempting to remember something. He stared at the femme, optics running over her, some distant part of his CPU noting how her hands still were ready to carry a sparkling. And slowly a memory did rise. The memory of- "A femme. Silver grey in appearance, with… a disapproving face. She didn't like me…"

"Ma." Bluerunner breathed. "Ma, you remember your Grand-creator. So why not me?"

Red Alert shook his head, yanking his wrist from out of her loose hold. "I don't know, and I don't care!" It was a lie of course, he cared very much. This femme was claiming to be his creator… and he believed her. He believed her with his whole spark, which scared him out of his wits completely.

_Primus, what am I supposed to do?_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Prime glanced up from his work as Jazz and Inferno came in. He was about to ask them to leave, he had no wish to deal with the craziness of the Arks crew right now, when the look on their face-plates stopped him. "Jazz, Inferno…"

"Oh, Prime. We ummm, we have something to tell you."

The two looked at each other for a long moment before Prime prodded, "Well?"

Both jumped and began to speak at once. "There was a femme, who went crazy over Red Alert-" Just as the other said, "Red Alert was being hugged-"

The end result was that Prime heard something that went, "Red Alert was being hugged crazy Red Alert."

Prime held up a hand as Prowl and Ratchet entered, talking softly. "Wait. One at a time. Jazz?"

"Well, there was a femme who was talking to Red Alert, and claimed that he was her creation-"

Ratchet stopped dead. "And then, Red Alert said she couldn't be his creator because the first time he seriously glitched he killed his creators-"

Prowl froze, wings stiffening. Ratchets optics dimmed at that, his CPU traveling over the patterns of Red Alert glitching. _It is possible, but how would he be able to do it?_ Ratchet wondered for a few moments, before giving it up. Right now he was more concerned with talking to Red Alert. "Where is he?"

Two heads turned, and Inferno at last said, "We don't know. He took off after that, and she went after him."

"Prime… I don't know when Red Alert'll come back." Jazz said softly. "I suggest we be ready to cool our heels here for awhile."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert and Bluerunner stared at each other across the table, neither able to speak. What could they speak of? Long vorns of being apart made them two strangers, even though distantly Bluerunner clung to the memory of cuddling Red Alert to her body.

All of her hopes and dreams for him had vanished. She didn't want him to be mixed up in the war, but what was one to say to their fully-grown children? _I'm sorry that your grandcreators decided to get rid of you?_

Bluerunner frowned as she remembered how her own Grandcreators had disappeared shortly after Red Alert did. And then her CPU turned back to the fidgeting security chief. "Red Alert… we need to start somewhere."

Red Alert took a deep breath, and his optic turned to the femme. "I… believe you. I believe you when you say your are my creator."

Bluerunner smiled in relief, a sparkbreaking smile. "Red Alert, will you stay? I now I haven't been the mother I should, and I want to make that up to you. I want to be your mother."

Red Alert stared at her, not knowing what to say.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Prime finished up the lifting off sequence. Red Alert had been warned that the Ark would leave within the next few breems, and many of the Arks members were wondering where the paranoid security director was.

Prowl stared at the controls in front of him, and then looked up at Prime. "If he does not arrive within 1.5 breems we will be forced to leave without him."

Inferno, fidgeting at the edge of the room, flinched. He was holding out somewhere within him that Red Alert may come back to the Ark, but as time went by it slowly became more and more unlikely. "Ratchet?" Inferno asked quietly, "What do you think Red's going to do?"

Ratchet eyed Inferno for a moment before snorting. "Your worried? If Red Alert decides to stay and give up the war, then well… he deserves his 'Happily ever after'. If he comes, I want him in the medbay immediately."

Ratchet left the room for his medbay, and Jazz placed a comforting hand on Infernos shoulder. "Don't worry Inferno, he's gotta come."

The engines slowly warmed up, and Inferno sighed heavily. _Are ya coming Red?_

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Yes, that's the end. It is now up to the reader to decide whether or not he went back to the Ark. I'm allowed cliffhangers, right?


End file.
